A Little Elden Ring in Your D&D Adventure

The release of Elden Ring was a while ago now, but over time, and through a few conversations with friends, I've accumulated some ideas on how you can sprinkle a bit of Elden Ring atmosphere—a bit more mysticism—into your own D&D adventure, if you want to, that is.

The Echo of a Great Conflict

The developer From Software is known for the sense of transience in their bleak game worlds. Much of that atmosphere comes from the fact that everything in the world is a reaction to some fundamental conflict. The core idea of a story—its theme—is palpable in every aspect of the game world.

It's important not to fall into didacticism here. Instead, when a theme is framed so that the moral answer seems obvious, it's especially exciting to emphasize the counter-idea all the more.

To give an example: if the core theme of my campaign were "The pursuit of power and wealth ends in suffering," I'd be pretty confident all my players would already agree with that premise. So instead of prematurely taking sides in that battle of ideas, I put more weight on telling stories that show "The pursuit of power and wealth creates contentment and happiness."

More is the keyword here—not exclusively. I won't bludgeon the players with the counter-idea. It should still be a contest between the idea and the counter-idea. But contests like this don't start on equal footing. Since we're moral beings, one side always has an advantage, and it's up to the DM to keep this contest fair and drive players into genuine moral dilemmas.

Every character, every monster, every settlement relates to this contest—contradicting or reinforcing these ideas in one way or another. (There's also a short section on this in the Dungeon Master's Guide on page 36.)

Subjective Realities

Lore is usually difficult to communicate, especially since it often can't be summarized in a few sentences. The underlying lore of From Software games usually isn't much more complicated than that of other RPGs. What makes a game world like Elden Ring's so mysterious, though, is that many of its NPCs stay vague in their accounts and contradict one another. Nobody's asking the DM to talk in the same overwrought way some Elden Ring NPCs do—the far more interesting point is that contradiction itself.

To increase the credibility of the fictional world, it helps if NPCs always convey their own subjective reality—their own subjective view of the world—to the players. For example, a farmer's wife carrying milk from the barn to the cheesemaker's might tell the players that the prince, who vanished a few weeks ago, is responsible for the queen's sudden death. A few hours later, when the party strikes up a conversation with a gate guard, he insists with total conviction that the prince and queen faked their deaths to escape the king's tyranny. It's important to be clear that these NPCs aren't lying. (Put those Insight checks away.) From their perspective, they're telling the truth. They genuinely believe in these realities themselves.

This approach is also particularly well suited to making a simply constructed story feel multifaceted, mysterious, and opaque. It also gives the DM the freedom to ultimately decide on whichever truth resonated most with the players.

Sky & Horizon as Canvas

Animator and film producer Walt Disney coined the term weenie for objects visible on the horizon that were meant to spark curiosity and draw people toward that spot. Granted, he used this principle to design his amusement park. And granted, the term comes from Disney noticing he could lure his dog across his entire estate's garden simply by waving a sausage in the air. But this principle also shows up in video games like Elden Ring, and it has a not-to-be-underestimated effect on players.

An enchanted castle on a mountain range, a column of black smoke rising above the forest, or a family of dragons spiraling up to dizzying heights. These things don't just bring the world to life. Unreachable, incidental events that the players witness but can't directly influence give the impression that the world lives, exists, and breathes even without their involvement.

It's important that these are events or sights where the players are clearly aware that, in this moment, there's nothing they can do but watch. In the far distance, the clouds part and a fiery meteor crashes into the rock face of a mountain.